


Dark Horse

by ZombieJesus



Category: Death Note & Related Fandoms, Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Fix-It, Gen, Gevanni's working for Linda, L's successors, Matsuda does good this time, One Shot, alternative events of the 2020 Death Note one-shot, fan art collaboration, specifically a female successor!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:55:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23151328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZombieJesus/pseuds/ZombieJesus
Summary: Linda left Wammy's House for a brilliant art career, but never forgot how she'd been passed over as one of L's successors. She decides to work in the shadows as the detective L2 when a new Kira appears in 2019, moving fast to tackle the case that the 'official' L seems content to ignore. Roger once told her art never helped solve a case, and he couldn't be more wrong.
Relationships: Linda & Gevanni, Linda & Matsuda, Minoru & Ryuk
Comments: 21
Kudos: 29





	Dark Horse

I.

_London- Fall 2009_

The plants were all dead or dying-- that was the first thing Linda thought as she stepped into her studio after being away on her art tour for a month. Her agent had promised to water them, but it looked like he’d done a half-ass job. She sighed and pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail before filling the watering can in the paint-spackled sink and drenching the thirsty plants. Maybe one or two could still be saved. After that, she turned on some music and got to work pulling the sheets off her workbench and unfinished canvases, flapping the dust free as she twirled and danced across the empty space. She hadn’t even heard the knocking, didn’t notice anything at all until a grinning man in a suit was peeking in the window and waving. Another man with fluffy hair pulled his friend away from the window and the knocking started up again.

“Damn it.” She turned the music off, hoping they hadn’t seen her prancing around, and opened the heavy sliding door with a metallic creak. “Uh, hello?” Her studio was off the beaten path for a reason, she didn’t like to be disturbed when she was working.

Matsuda gave her a bright smile, saying in halting English, “Hello! Are you Linda?” 

“Maybe…” Linda kept her foot in the doorjamb and her flip phone in her hand. She switched to Japanese, “Who are you?”

Matsuda laughed and gratefully switched back to his native language. “Oh! You speak Japanese! That’s a relief because--”

“Matsu…” Aizawa put a hand on Matsuda’s shoulder and took over. “We’ve just come from Wammy’s House and Roger told us where to find you. Can we come in? It’s a sensitive matter.”

Linda’s lips parted in surprise but she nodded and stepped aside for the two men to enter. “Oh...alright, sure.” Roger was extremely secretive about the identities and locations of both current and former students. If he’d told these men where to find her, it must be important. Once she’d closed the door behind them, she pulled a few chairs together and asked, “What’s this about? Roger doesn’t give that information out to just anyone.” She’d graduated Wammy’s about a year ago and had severed connections with the institution after never being taken seriously there; Roger knew that too.

“That’s because we’re not just anyone. We’re Investigators Aizawa and Matsuda, with the Tokyo Police.” Aizawa took out his Task Force ID to show her, nudging Matsuda to do the same. “There are two former students of Wammy’s that we need to find and Roger said you could probably sketch likenesses of them. Mello and Near. Do you know them?”

Linda let out a long breath and plopped down in the chair opposite Aizawa and Matsuda, looking between them and their IDs before she spoke. The credentials looked legit and Roger didn’t allow outsiders into Wammy’s for no good reason. “I mean...yes, I _knew_ them. When we were kids. Mello left Wammy’s four years ago and Near did not long after that.”

“Wow….” Matsuda’s eyes strafed around the studio and he was obviously impressed with the paintings and sketches covering the walls or propped up in corners. There were still lifes and bucolic scenes, works that looked like they belonged in a cathedral and then much more modern types of art. “You’re really good! Looks too expensive for a detective’s salary though, haha!”

Linda grinned and looked away at the praise, tugging at her ponytail. “Thanks.” It was the one thing that she excelled at over everyone else at the orphanage, not that anyone cared. Roger always said _art_ never solved a case.

“But you knew what they looked like then?” Aizawa leaned forward, focused on the task at hand. “Even sketches of them as children would be helpful.”

“Helpful for _what_ , exactly?” Linda raised her eyes to Aizawa questioningly. Just because she’d resented being passed over in the line of succession for Mello and Near didn’t mean she’d give up her former classmates’ privacy. 

“You’re familiar with Kira, I’m sure.” Aizawa waited until Linda nodded, but it was a rhetorical question. Everyone in the world was familiar. “Locating Mello and Near might be helpful to--” 

“Mello’s kidnapped our Chief’s daughter! Near is heading up the Kira Investigation with the FBI and--”

“Matsuda!” Aizawa glowered at the man, covering his eyes with his hand before letting it fall away. “But yes, that’s right. We need to know what they look like so we can identify them if necessary. A young girl’s life is on the line. She’s currently a hostage.”

“Shit…alright then, I’ll help you.” Linda bit her lip, turning to her workbench and pulling a sketchbook close. She closed her eyes and recalled their faces, and they sprang to her mind as fresh as if she saw them yesterday. _Mello the bully. Near the recluse._ She knew there was so much more than just that, but they never let her close, were too focused on competing against the other to pay her any mind. Opening her eyes, she picked up a pencil and got to work sketching their likenesses. “Give me a few minutes.” 

Matsuda and Aizawa left with the sketches they came for-- and Matsuda had been right about being unable to afford any of her art once he’d asked about the prices. But Linda sat at her workbench a long time in the dimming light after they left, thinking about Near and Mello and Kira, wondering if she’d made the right choice to help them. Something felt off but she couldn’t decide if it was just held-over bitterness or actual intuition. _If art never solved a case, Roger, why’d you send them to me?_

She laughed smugly and turned her music back on, standing up and brushing off that unsettling feeling. If it stuck around maybe she’d try to look up Mello and Near and get to the bottom of this herself. They wouldn’t be easy to find but she hadn’t been a student at Wammy’s for nothing, no matter what Roger said. 

\---the next day---

“I’m sorry, that’s all I can tell you, Linda. You’re not involved with the _program_ anymore and all that is confidential.” 

Linda paced in her studio, gesticulating as she tried again with Roger. “I _get_ that. But I just have...a bad feeling about this whole Kira business. The new L is the boss of those investigators in Japan, right?”

Roger sighed into the phone, “I cannot confirm or deny that.”

Linda frowned, asking bluntly, “Why wasn’t the new L Mello or Near? Why was it someone else who had nothing to do with Wammy’s?”

“We would have to ask L that, and unfortunately we can’t.”

“No, everyone knew L never picked a successor. Mello was screaming about it the whole way out of Wammy’s gates.” Linda held back the accusation of ‘ _why did you let a 14-year-old kid leave?_ ’ When Roger stayed silent, she went on, “Roger….I’ve looked into it, and it seems like what Kira needs to kill is a name and a _face_ .” Just because she was an artist didn’t mean she didn’t have investigational skills too. “Kira _killed_ L, which means Kira knew L’s real face! Someone close to him, maybe even on that team! Did I just give those officers something I shouldn’t? I need to get in touch with Mello and Near!”

“Calm down, there’s no need for histrionics. Those officers are trying to _catch_ Kira.” Roger sounded done, and he was. “Don’t you have an art show to prepare for? 

“But I could help! I received the same training _they_ did and--”

“He didn’t choose you.”

Linda snapped back, “He didn’t choose them either.”

“Good day, Linda.”

Linda held the phone away from her ear when the dial tone sounded, eyes narrowed in anger at being dismissed. _Again_. She tossed the phone onto the workbench with a huff of frustration. There was nothing left to do but wait and watch the news like every other outsider. Roger was stonewalling her and Mello and Near had essentially become ghosts as far as she was able to discern. She could only hope she hadn’t made a mistake, and Roger wasn’t making one too.

II.

_New York City- May 2, 2019_

Ten years had passed since the day Matsuda and Aizawa had paid Linda that fateful visit, and she still didn’t know if she regretted passing them those sketches. She’d managed to stay in close contact with Matsuda, who’d let her know privately about the deaths of Mello and Matt. She mourned them although their graves were never made public, taking to keeping a rosary around in Mello’s honor. She wished she could blame the occasional cigarette on Matt’s memory but it was more to do with her own restlessness. 

The global news had eventually reported the death of Kira although no one knew who it was, and even Matsuda had been uncharacteristically tight-lipped. Her assumption that Near had been instrumental in that wasn’t disputed, and as the new L continued to be occasionally active since then, she assumed that Near had taken over that role. It felt...different from the first L though, like Near’s heart just wasn’t in it. He seemed reticent to get involved even when another, different Kira appeared in 2013. 

It was around that time that she decided she couldn’t just sit back anymore. _She_ wanted to get involved. Art fed her soul but Linda wanted more-- she wanted to solve the cases that she’d been trained for. Perhaps Wammy’s had never seen her potential but she knew it was there. _Was that why they gave me the alias Linda, a name beginning with L? Thinking I’d never be ‘L’ so it didn’t matter?_

She didn’t bother speaking with Roger anymore and her remaining connections with Wammy’s were thin, not that she could erase it from her mind even as her art career had flourished. Her pieces were in high demand and allowed her to open her own gallery in Manhattan. During the day she painted what she knew would sell well; at night, she’d been secretly building her own brand as a detective in the shadows.

_L2._

The more that ‘L’ receded from the public eye, the more the world had come to rely on L2 for the types of cases that the first L had taken. She’s learned his tricks well-- voice scramblers, building a network, cooperating with global law entities like INTERPOL, the FBI, and Scotland Yard. She’d even recruited one of Near’s old agents, Gevanni, and had learned so much about the Kira case through him, once she’d gained his trust. That had taken several years and he _still_ never revealed the identity of Kira, but it was a moot point since that Kira was dead. 

So when a third Kira appeared on the world stage-- on Twitter of all places-- Linda was ready, if baffled. Seeing Matsuda on the YouTube replay of the Sakura News segment with the floating paper had nearly made her choke on her chamomile tea. “What in the….” 

She set her tea aside and gently removed the cat from her lap, jumping up to ring Matsuda and confirm this for herself. “Matsu! It’s Linda!” She looked at the clock, realizing it was very early morning in Tokyo when he murmured a sleepy hello. _But this is good, maybe he’ll tell me more this way._

“I just saw the video of you on the news! What in the hell is going on? Is there another Kira?” 

“Ugh…Hi Linda, one second.” Matsuda groaned softly and sat up to rub his eyes and turn on the lamp. Technically he wasn’t supposed to talk to the _media_ after the tongue-lashing he’d gotten from his boss, but this was different. He knew Linda was L2 and frankly, they needed all the help they could get. He’d been a contact of hers for years and they’d come to respect each other, which was more than he could say for a lot of his own colleagues. “Um, I’m not really _supposed_ to tell anyone.” He laughed softly, “But yeah, it seems like it. Or at least there’s another notebook, being sold this time. I saw...I saw _Ryuk_ in the TV studio.” 

“Shit…he came back?” Linda shot a quick ‘SOS’ email to Gevanni to come over to her loft right away. He’d told her about the existence of shinigami and about Ryuk in particular, but it had always seemed so fantastical. “What’s the Japanese police doing about it? Gevanni said shinigami have to stick close to the human with their notebook so this Kira has to be there.”

“Well...we’re all kind of disorganized but L got in touch with Aizawa right after that video.” Matsuda said bashfully, “I was gonna tell you too, uh, when I woke up, heh. Was mostly getting yelled at yesterday.”

Linda drummed her pencil on the table, having a bad feeling that Near wasn’t going to insert himself into this Kira case any more than he had during the last one. “I guess if you’re already on the skids with your bosses, might as well send over all the information you got, right?”

“Linda...I really shouldn’t…” 

“C’mon Matsu, what’s more important? A little breach of protocol or keeping the notebook out of the hands of the highest bidder?” She smiled as she saw Gevanni’s email that he was on his way and stood up to go uncover a new blank canvas. _It’s time to finally make the art I was always meant to._

“I guess when you put it like _that_ ….sure. Lemme get a few more hours sleep though, ok? Then I’ll get in touch with you. You’re following the Twitter tag right?”

“You bet I am. I promise this stays between us. Just use our usual encrypted channels. Bye Matsu. And thank you, really.” Linda grinned as she hung up the phone and put some more tea on for Gevanni. She’d have to butter him up a little bit too.

When Gevanni arrived a little while later, he could already see that Linda was on a mission. Art supplies had been heaped on a table close to a large blank canvas and she was in her smock, hair pulled back and a cup of tea ready for him as soon as he walked in. He took it with a wry smile, “Uh oh, you’re not going to try to get me to model for you again, are you?”

“Not this time, but I do need your help.” Linda giggled and pulled Gevanni closer to the canvas. “We’re going to collaborate. I need you to tell me what that shinigami looks like.” Her voice got more serious and softer. “I know you don’t like to talk about those days, but this is important. Ryuk’s back and that notebook on Twitter is _real_. I just got off the phone with Matsuda. Watch this.” She leaned over to her computer set-up and pressed play on the video of Matsuda, watching Gevanni’s reaction carefully.

Gevanni let out a long breath after it was done, frowning slightly at the idea of recalling that ghastly face. He still had nightmares about what had happened in the Yellow Box warehouse, and it had shifted his entire worldview. “You’re telling me you want to paint Ryuk…”

Linda nodded and sat in front of the canvas to ready her paints. “Near’s working on the case but I’m taking it too, even if no one asked me. Whoever’s selling that notebook doesn’t realize what the fallout will be in their get-rich-quick scheme.” _And who could buy it…_ “People already knew about Kira’s killing power and now they know the power can be sold. It’s a physical thing. Now the world needs to know about shinigami and where all the trouble started.”

“Linda!” Gevanni set his tea aside and put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t you think that will create a panic? And what good will it do?”

“If we get his face out there and tell everyone what he’s about, he might think twice about coming back here to mess with Earth. Maybe he’ll even go back where he came from or the seller might stop the auction. Plus, people can study shinigami, not be caught off-guard again. All this secrecy just keeps the world from being prepared for the _next_ time.” Linda picked up a pencil to do the initial sketching and gave Gevanni a searching look. “So will you help me?”

“You’d just give the auction more legitimacy, though.” Gevanni shook his head. “Although I guess Matusda already did enough damage there when he spoke out on TV.”

“Please Stephen.” Linda took his hand and squeezed it.

“Pfft, don’t you ‘please Stephen’ me.” Gevanni frowned but nodded eventually, pulling up a chair beside her. “Alright. But we’ll only show this to the world as a last resort, ok? Maybe the new Kira will be found.”

“Of course.” Linda focused and got to work, adding and modifying details at Gevanni’s instruction. She’d show it to Matsuda later to get his second opinion. She wanted it to be absolutely perfect.

  
  


_May 24, 2019_

_It’s really done then._ Linda stared at her computer screens in dismay as she spoke with Matsuda over the phone, “I can’t believe it! Why didn’t L stop the auction?” The new Kira-- dubbed A-Kira-- had directed the Americans to deposit the winning bid equally among all people under age 60 years with a Yotsuba bank account. She’d been hoping that Near would step in and do _something_ or announce he’d found the seller but nothing like that had happened.

“I...don’t know. Aizawa said Halle and Rester are pretty frustrated, too. After the United States won, Near just...decided not to interfere.” The strain was apparent in Matsuda’s voice. “I don’t think he’s going to do anything, Linda.”

“What?!” She’d already been scanning through a list of names of Yotsuba account holders, trying to match addresses close to Sakura News studio where Ryuk had been mediating the auction on TV. There were still so many names, but it had narrowed down the pool of suspects considerably. “Matsu...if L’s not going to do anything, L2 _will_.” The money and the notebook hadn’t changed hands yet. There was still time.

Matsuda made a nervous sound then asked, “What are you going to do?”

She glanced over at the finished portraits of Ryuk-- there were over a dozen of them by now. Every detail of Ryuk’s face, clothes, hair, accessories had been carefully rendered and checked with Gevanni and Matsuda. “First I’m going to send you a list of names and I want you to check it against test scores in the Japan school databases within the last few decades. Whoever’s behind this is obviously smart. I’ll compare the top scorers with the activity of people with Twitter accounts, or those who’ve been watching the auction the closest.” If she hadn’t known better, she would have thought A-Kira was someone from Wammy’s. _Shame, they probably belonged there._ “Then...I’m going to release Ryuk’s face to the world. I wanna make that shinigami sweat.”

Matsuda made an even _more_ nervous sound. “L-linda! Aren't you afraid you’re gonna make him mad?”

“Not particularly. But even if he does somehow find out I’m the one behind it, it’s just a chance I’ll have to take. It’s time the world knew the truth.” Linda rubbed the beads in the rosary around her wrist, wondering if this was what the first L would have done. _I don’t know, but I can’t measure myself against him anymore._ “Will you run the names, Matsu? I’m sending them now.”

“Yes…” Matsuda sighed, hoping that helping her might make amends for his early bungles in the case. L2 had _names_ , was following real leads and not giving up yet. That inspired him to do the same. “You can count on me. I’ll be in touch soon. Bye, Linda.”

Linda snapped her flip phone shut and readied a packet of files for the press containing information on shinigami along with pictures of her Ryuk paintings. Before anonymously sending it to all the major news stations and papers she could think of, she recorded a short message to the world using the voice modulator software.

**“People of the world, this is the detective L2. Your governments have kept you in the dark about the origins of Kira’s power and the supernatural beings called shinigami that grant it. The truth needs to be made known. Most importantly, any human who uses the power is cursed and their own days are numbered. I’ve included a picture of the shinigami Ryuk currently on Earth. Remember his face. Do not feed him apples. And no matter how tempting, do not accept the power to kill as Kira.**

**A-Kira, this message is for you. All dealings with shinigami end in death. I can advise you on how to help yourself out of this, and if you want a better life, I can give you that as well. Cancel the exchange and let me know you’re willing to talk.”**

Satisfied, Linda sent the emails and then posted the information widely across the internet. A-Kira had used technology to reach billions and so would she.

III.

_Tokyo, May 25, 2019_

“Hyuk!!!” Ryuk nearly fell out of the sky when he saw it-- his own handsome mug seven-stories tall on an electronic billboard in Shibuya. “What in the Realm…” He cackled and flapped closer to examine the likeness and was impressed. “Not bad! Even got my earring and chains and....hmph! Well, hey, I got some new rings now, cooler stuff than that old junk.” But other than that, it was _exact_. “Wonder who ratted me out. Bet it was that Matsu, heh.”

Crowds of excited people were pointing up at the billboard which read, ‘ **L2 releases details of how Kira really kills! Shinigami Ryuk go home!** ’

“Uhhh, hope Minoru ain’t seen this yet.” Ryuk flapped back to the kid’s house right away, but he was hoping even _more_ that nobody ‘upstairs’ had seen it. On his way back, he passed more billboards and scrolling news signs with even more pictures of him. Newspaper vendors were swarmed in the streets, and his eyes bulged when he saw souvenir stores were actually selling merchandise with his face on it! He floated down to poke at the t-shirts and mugs and bags, some of them with silly poses or just close-ups of his face. “Hey, now that ain’t fair! Where’s my cut?” It was amusing and flattering in a way, and he snagged a few things to stuff in his wings as he continued back to Minoru.

The kid was sleeping since it was a school night, which gave him a chance to rustle the shinigami souvenirs from his wings and get a better look.

A creaky voice laughed from the shadows, “Tee hee hee, whatcha got there, Ryuk?” 

Ryuk looked up in alarm. _Damn! Justin Armonia!_ He hurriedly stuffed the items back in his wings and tried to look innocent. “Nuttin. Ain’t you got better things to do than sneak around spyin’ on me?”

“Nope!” Justin cackled as his mobile bone throne scuttled across the room, taking him with it. “The King _really_ isn’t happy with you. First you let your human sell the Death Note and now everybody’s seen your face. It’s all over the world, hee hee.”

“Uh, I dunno what you’re talkin’ about.” Ryuk looked away guiltily, scratching at his feathers. “But even if I did, I didn’t have nothin’ to do with it.”

“You’re in big big trouble!” Justin’s throne clip-clapped right in front of Ryuk and he poked him with a metallic finger. “There’s already a betting pool of what kind of punishment you’re going to get.”

“Really?” Ryuk didn’t like the sound of that at all. “Uh...what should I do?”

“Dunno. Anyway, I’m just the messenger. See ya in the Realm!” Justin phased back through the wall and was gone, leaving Ryuk in a confused and slightly panicked state. 

What was Minoru going to think about all this when he woke up?

\---New York City---

“Matsu, you’re amazing!” Linda’s fingers flew over the keys as she plugged the information Matsuda gave her into her own algorithms. She’d barely slept, but how could she when the world was on fire and might very well burn? Together, their pooled information had narrowed down her initial list to just a handful. She cut off Matsuda’s pleased stuttering, there was no time for flattery now. “Ok, and did you set up surveillance outside all the Yotsuba branches as I asked?”

“Yeah, but it’s chaos. Everyone is trying to open an account or check their balances. Riots and demonstrations…” Matsuda sighed as he glanced at the surveillance. “But that’s pretty much all over Tokyo, especially since the uh, press releases about Ryuk.”

Linda smiled smugly and pushed a wisp of hair out of her face before getting back to typing. “Anyway, I’m down to 10 potential suspects. Can you mobilize the police on your end once I’ve got a hit? We’ll have to move fast.”

“Yeah...Aizawa isn’t too happy about all of this but now that L’s gone silent, he’s on board if we can catch A-Kira. We can’t just sit here and watch the Death Note go to...well, you know.”

“Yeah, I know. Stand by. I hope this won’t take much longer.” Linda closed the call and got back to work on checking out the names. But soon the news feed was interrupted with a special broadcast from Sakura News.

Linda sat up straight as Ryuk’s tell-tale paper hovered in mid-air, on it written the words:

“ **Willing to talk to L2. I’m listening. Exchange is paused but not canceled.** ”

“Yes!” The paper floated for 30-minutes, but by then, Linda had stumbled onto something interesting. The name of a high schooler with the highest scores on the national IQ test in Japan. _Minoru Tanaka_ . He also had a Yotsuba Bank account and lived within 10 kilometers of Sakura News station. Sure, there were still other names on the list but...Linda had a hunch about _this_ one. What harm would it do to call the kid and see? At worst, it would eliminate someone from the running.

She pulled her microphone closer and turned on her voice modulation software, then dialed Minoru’s cell phone in Japan. As soon as he picked up she said, “This is L2. Don’t hang up.” 

“How...that was so fast….”

Linda smiled and texted Gevanni to book them flights to Japan.

IV.

_Tokyo, May 27, 2019_

The next time Matsuda was on TV, it was to announce that A-Kira had been taken into custody and Kira’s power was no longer for sale, thanks to the help of L2.

Minoru was brought to a nondescript hotel room where Linda was waiting, and he still had the Death Note. Ryuk flapped along anxiously but was curious to see what was going to happen. Plus, he was in no hurry to get back to the Shinigami Realm and face the King.

“I think you can take off the blindfold now.” Linda curled into an overstuffed chair as Gevanni removed Minoru’s blindfold and placed the Death Note on her desk. Gevanni gave Ryuk a wary look as he went to stand with Halle and Rester, who’d joined Linda’s team.

Minoru blinked and looked around fearfully. “Which of you is L2?”

“I am.” Linda picked up the Death Note and slid it from the plastic bag. As soon as she touched it, she raised her eyes, knowing that she’d be able to see Ryuk now. “And I see you came along too, Ryuk.”

“Heh, don’t got much of a choice. Where he goes, I go.” Ryuk grinned at the shirt Linda was wearing, it had his face on it. “Nice shirt.”

“Like it?” She leafed through the Death Note, scanning the rules. “I hope you weren’t too offended that I didn’t get _everything_ right. Pretty close, though.”

“Um, can we talk about what’s going to happen to _me_ ?” Minoru sat down across from Linda, looking like he was on the verge of tears. He didn’t want to die; everything he’d done with his clever scheme had been trying to _avoid_ killing or dying. 

“We can.” Linda tore a page from the notebook and put it aside. “First, I’m going to burn this. I’ll hold one page back in case Ryuk ever decides to return and people need to be able to see him. 

“Dawww.” Ryuk pouted, “You’re ruinin’ all my fun.”

“That’s the point, shinigami.” Linda pulled a pewter zippo with a ‘B’ on it from her pocket and flicked it open. To Minoru, “You never used it, correct?” When Minoru nodded, she let the notebook catch fire and dropped it into an empty waste bin to burn. “Since you came forward and never actually killed anyone, you didn’t technically commit a crime. I’m sure I could find some loophole for prosecution but...nobody wants that. I have a better idea. For _both_ of you.”

“Both of us?” Ryuk looked rather dejected watching his notebook burn, but that couldn’t be helped.

“If you promise not to drop any more Death Notes down here, I’ll see to it that you’re supplied with all the apples you want.” Linda opened a drawer and took a juicy red apple out, showing it to Ryuk. “Matsuda says you love them. Is he right?” She could tell from the way the shinigami drooled she’d hit on it.

“Wowza, all the apples I want? But uh...y’know shinigami still have to kill folks right? It’s what we do.” Ryuk leaned bodily towards the fruit. “But uh, yeah, deal. I won’t drop any more notes so long as you give me apples.” There was nothing about _that_ against the rules, and maybe the King would be placated knowing the Death Note wasn't sold after all. Sure, there was the little issue of his gorgeous mug making fashion statements across the world, but he'd bribed the King with apples before.

“Promise?” When Ryuk nodded, Linda laughed and tossed the apple to him. “It’s a deal then. And as for you, Minoru, there’s a place I want to tell you about. A place where someone like you, someone good at solving puzzles, would be right at home.” 

Minoru gave her a hopeful look. “It’s not jail, is it?”

Linda grinned and shook her head. “Have you ever heard of Wammy’s House?”

**Author's Note:**

> Check out the awesome fan art of Linda by iconoclast-art on tumblr [here](https://kiranatrix.tumblr.com/post/612625935343239168/dark-horse/)  
> Written for Death Note Ladies Appreciation Weeks.
> 
> And another fan art by @aqroc-rox on tumblr [here](https://kiranatrix.tumblr.com/post/615301566654742528/aqroc-rox-just-read-the-dark-horse-fic-where)  
> 


End file.
